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LONDON (Alliance News) - Panther Securities PLC Thursday reported a fall in profit in the first half, but said it expects to benefit from improvement in the UK property market going forward.
AIM-listed Panther Securities posted a pretax profit of GBP3.2 million for the six months to June 30, down from GBP5.0 million a year earlier. The company did make a GBP3.0 million profit on the disposal of investment properties, but a GBP706,000 fair value loss on derivative financial liabilities compared with a GBP3.9 million gain a year earlier affected its results.
The results also exclude the discontinued operations relating to MRG Systems Ltd which the company has put up for sale.
Revenue, on the other hand, remained broadly flat at GBP6.1 million.
At an operating level, the company acquired a number of properties including a department store in Peterborough for GBP2 million.
During the period, Panther Securities also renegotiated the terms of its bank loan so that a scheduled loan repayment of GBP3.0 million - due in late July - was reduced to GBP1.0 million, leaving the company with additional resources to invest.
"However, the final documentation was not completed until after June 30 thus these accounts show the full repayment due as a current liability," the company said.
Chairman Andrew Perloff said his proposal at the company's annual general meeting in June to donate GBP17,500 to the UK Independence Party was "hotly debated". The voting went to a poll resulting in the resolution being passed.
Looking ahead, Perloff said there continues to be an improvement in all areas of the property market, including lettings, selling and finance availability.
"I am confident this will filter through to our group in due course via increased profitability and improved asset values which has already grown from 380 pence as at June 30, 2013 to 403 pence at the balance sheet date (on a diluted basis)," he added.
Panther Securities shares were untraded at 349.00 pence Thursday.
By Anthony Tshibangu; anthonytshibangu@alliancenews.com; @AnthonyAllNews
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